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Last November, there were reports that Dallas developer Eric Brauss had died in Brazil, where he fled after his real estate empire collapsed in 2009.

There was much skepticism at the time.

“I’d be surprised if Mr. Brauss were actually deceased,” Shamoil Shipchandler, assistant U.S. Attorney, wrote in an email then. “Fugitives often make a speedy recovery from the grave.”

Turns out, Brauss apparently did die.

The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas filed a motion today to dismiss a 2011 federal indictment of Brauss. Attached to it was Brauss’ official death certificate from Brazil. It says he died a few days before those reports circulated last year.

“Brazil has provided certified documentation that he is deceased,” Shipchandler said in an email today.

Brauss was indicted in February 2011 on charges of defrauding investors of more than $6 million in two commercial real estate projects. Altogether, attorneys estimated, investors had about $200 million at risk in dozens of Brauss partnerships. At one time, some investors estimated, the projects were valued on paper at up to $1 billion.

In addition to the criminal indictment, Brauss had several civil complaints against him.

“Prior to the government being able to secure his extradition from Brazil, where Brauss resided as a fugitive, Brauss died,” today’s motion said.

“My honest sympathies to Mr. Brauss’ family but, unfortunately, his death does not erase the true heartache he caused to those whom he defrauded,” Tillotson said in an email today. “Then again, Mr. Brauss was known to have faked more than a few documents while he was alive, so anything is possible.”

“Despite his death, parties can continue to pursue claims against his estate and seek to enforce their judgments,” Tillotson said. “In addition, many of the lawsuits involve parties fighting amongst themselves due to the ‘collateral damage’ caused by Mr. Brauss. Those suits will continue as well.”

Dallas attorney Larry Friedman represented Brauss. Friedman has always maintained that Brauss was primarily a victim of the worldwide economic downturn in 2008 and 2009.

“He had almost 300 investors and up until the end everybody was happy with Eric Brauss,” Friedman said Thursday. “People were fighting to get into deals with Eric Brauss…He had a sixth sense about real estate.”

GameStop Corp.’s former corporate communications vice president Chris Olivera has agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud after funneling almost $2 million of the retail chain’s money into his own bank account through a corporation he set up in Nevada.

According to a federal investigation, Olivera sent payments from GameStop to Cloud Communications LLC for nearly two years, from July 2009 through April 2011.

Olivera has agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud. That carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. A date for him to enter his plea before a judge has not yet been set.

Olivera allegedly mailed a check for $40,500 to Cloud Communications from GameStop in September 2009.

He made up his accomplice and named her “Jennifer Miller.” She served as his point contact at Cloud Communications and submitted invoices to GameStop.

Fraudulent invoices totaled $1,965,900.

I wonder if Jennifer wrote any press releases for Olivera?

Olivera was terminated last year, a GameStop spokeswoman said. She added that the company “has fully and completely cooperated with the government’s investigation.”